Shadow of great britain

Your Excellency:

During my trip to Italy with my friend Sir Arthur Hastings, I thought I would bathe in the gentle sunshine of the Mediterranean and reminisce about the civilization of Rome thousands of years ago in the warm welcome of the people of the Two Sicilies. However, at this moment, what I saw was not civilization, but the most barbaric, cruel and dark behavior.

I really don’t know how to feel about the trial I saw yesterday in the Naples court. The case, while initially seemingly trivial, became increasingly serious and accompanied by frustrating and humiliating circumstances. I believe it is my duty to raise this question with you, not only for the sake of those who have fallen victim, but also for the sake of the common cause of justice and humanity.

The specific situation is this. At this moment, about fifty to sixty locals from the city and region of Naples are awaiting trial in the capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The government has brought charges against them and others already on trial, involving the highest level of crimes covered by state law.

The charges, or so-called charges, are difficult to describe precisely because the proceedings are shrouded in shadow. But based on the vague accounts we heard from local residents, it appears that the main charges were sedition, conspiracy and treason, and the evidence provided by the local government to substantiate these charges was conflicting and unconvincing.

We need not delve into the veracity of these charges, nor show the suspicion that any one might face when such accusations are made. It is unimaginable to any normal person that fifty or sixty people, with no previous contact and most of them living in the most ordinary living environment, would suddenly come up with the idea of ​​conspiring to overthrow the government. Perhaps they had motives for doing so, but, however imperfect the government of Naples, no country on the Continent could better maintain the general order of society.

But whatever the probabilities of the case, what I wish to draw your Lordship's attention to is the nature of the trial itself.

The defendant has been subjected to a system in state prison that I can only describe as torture. They were subjected to the most brutal torture ever devised by man, and the authorities did so solely to damage their sanity and health. They were deprived of all contact with friends and relatives, isolated in darkness, and forced to perform the heaviest labor for very little food.

They were handed over to jailers who were a disgrace to mankind, the products of a barbaric and inhuman system, and who resorted to cruel oppression even beyond the orders of their superiors. After these political prisoners plead guilty, what awaits them is not only life-long labor, exile, or hanging. No one with rational thinking can imagine that the ruler of this country would actually order political prisoners to be stuffed into the barrel of a cannon and fired. Go to the sea!

Your Excellency, I do not wish to use hyperbolic language on this subject. Nor do I wish to prejudice the Government of Naples, or to excite any hostility towards it. But I believe it is my duty to expose to humanity the atrocities committed under its aegis and to call on all who have respect for the principles of justice and humanity to raise their voices in protest against these atrocities.

It is not enough to condemn the actions of the Naples government, we must take steps to prevent them from happening again. We must tell the rulers of that country that the eyes of Europe are upon them; that they cannot oppress and persecute their people at any cost; that they must abide by the laws of humanity and justice, otherwise they must be held accountable for their actions.

I trust that your Excellency will not think that I am too presumptuous on this subject. I know that you have always been an ardent supporter of the causes of liberty and justice, and I trust that you will not withhold your powerful support from these unfortunate victims of tyranny and oppression.

——William Gladstone, "To the Prime Minister, the Earl of Aberdeen, on the Persecution of Political Prisoners by the Government of Naples, 1851"

"The Times" Editor-in-Chief John Delane: "Not long ago, two letters from Mr. William Gladstone, the former Chairman of the Board of Trade, unabashedly exposed the destruction and abuse of political prisoners in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. It caused an uproar in the society and aroused public indignation among all the British people. We noticed that you were among the people who accompanied Mr. Gladstone on his trip to Naples. What do you think of this issue? "

Sir Arthur Hastings: "When I met William twenty years ago, he already had this jealous temper. Before he entered politics, he had been committed to saving the country's homeless people and doing his best to save them. Efforts were made to help them return to normal life and return to the embrace of the Lord and God. William's accusations against the brutality of the Bourbon government in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies were entirely based on his upright and righteous nature.

Moreover, this is not just his voice, but the voice of all people. The actions of the government of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies have completely placed themselves on the opposite side of human society. They can use cannonballs to block the mouths of the domestic people and use sweet words to blind the eyes of the people abroad, but they cannot deceive the people of William. I believe that the Parliament and the government will properly handle this issue. "

——"The Times" Political Current Affairs Column, March 1851 "Sir Arthur Hastings: The People's William Attacks the Tyranny of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies"

Compared with the straightforward and outspoken Garibaldi, Mazzini's temperament is obviously much more cautious.

Perhaps it was due to different personal experiences. After all, Garibaldi had just joined the "Young Italy" not long ago, while Mazzini had already led two failed uprisings.

The failure of these two uprisings was all due to the betrayal of internal traitors. It was precisely because of such setbacks that Mazzini knew that although the "Young Italy" had tens of thousands of members in major cities in France and Italy, less than one-tenth of them were willing to risk their lives to follow him in the revolution.

Moreover, not only were the fellow villagers unreliable, but external forces such as Louis Philippe had to be guarded against.

Although the French government had been privately promising Mazzini that it would provide them with help at the right time, and had turned a blind eye to the situation of Italians gathering in France, this was just a stopgap measure for Louis Philippe.

After all, the ruler of the French July Monarchy came to power with the slogan of "People's King". If he ordered the expulsion of exiles from Italy, Poland, Spain and other countries, he would not be able to explain to the public opinion in Paris.

On the one hand, Louis Philippe generously accommodated the exiles for face-saving projects, and on the other hand, he used last year's cholera epidemic as an excuse to increase the scrutiny and surveillance of foreigners.

All foreigners were restricted to living in a fixed area, and had to report their recent work and itinerary to the Greater Paris Police Department on time. If the Political Security Police found that they had left the scope of activities designated by the government, they would be detained at the least, or directly expelled from the country at the worst.

In the final analysis, although Louis Philippe did not mind giving a certain degree of support to the exiles, this opportunistic king would only add icing on the cake when the overall situation was already determined, and would not do too much work to help in times of trouble. More importantly, Louis Philippe's regime was also worried that these exiles would link up with the Republicans and Bonapartists in Paris, thereby threatening his rule.

Mazzini had seen through this, but unfortunately, he felt that the Poles, who shared the same suffering as the Italians, had not yet seen through the true face of the July Monarchy.

Mazzini smiled and patted Garibaldi on the back: "Brother, do you remember what I told you yesterday?"

Garibaldi certainly remembered the content of the long conversation between Mazzini and him last night, especially the sentence - the French are so unreliable, can the British on the other side of the strait be any better? The unification of Italy must rely on ourselves.

Although the British often boast that they helped Greece win independence from the Ottomans, a careful analysis shows that although the British liberal forces led by Byron joined the Greek War of Independence very early, the participation of this group of people was basically out of personal feelings rather than the government's instruction.

The United Kingdom recognized the Greek government in 1823, but it was not until 1827 that it sent the bomb ship madman "Sea Wolf" Thomas Cochrane to help train the Greek navy at Greece's repeated requests.

When Garibaldi thought of Greece, he suddenly thought of the plot in "St. George's Flag Raised High"

After finally meeting the original author of the novel, he immediately wanted to dig deeper into the plot: "Arthur, brother, can I call you that? Calling you Sir sounds quite awkward. I don't disrespect you, but when I'm on the ship, even if I'm the captain, I don't like the brothers to pay too much attention to the relationship between superiors and subordinates when chatting and gossiping. That would seem too distant."

Garibaldi was willing to get closer to Arthur, so how could the cunning second-class secretary refuse?

He smiled and nodded, "Of course, I don't like others to call me that. To be honest, Giuseppe, I was a pig farmer before I became a knight."

"Pig farmer?" Garibaldi was surprised to hear this: "Dude, are you kidding? Can you become a knight in the UK if you stay in the countryside and raise pigs?"

"It's true that you can't raise pigs if you stay in the countryside, so I went to the city to raise pigs later." Arthur clinked glasses with Garibaldi as if he was familiar with him.

"Is there any difference between raising pigs in the city and in the countryside?"

"Of course it's different." Arthur took a sip of wine: "My platform is much bigger."

Dumas echoed from the side: "Yes, this guy was in the pigpen, and he almost got killed by the pigs. Even if it was a quarter of an hour later, he would have been roasted and served on the table."

Garibaldi pinched his mustache and pondered: "It sounds like you have a story like Mr. Dumas."

Arthur smiled and replied: "Giuseppe, my story may not be as exciting as yours."

Garibaldi shrugged and curled his lips and said: "Dude, don't laugh at me, I'm just a sailor. But I am really interested in Elder Carter. Although we are both mice floating on the sea, he seems to have experienced more than me. Didn't it say in "St. George's Flag Rises As Usual"? He even knew a big man like General Codrington."

"Oh... General Codrington."

Arthur heard the name Codrington and immediately thought of many things.

As a famous general of the Royal Navy, Edward Codrington fought many famous battles in his life, whether it was the Battle of Ushant with Richard Howe, the Battle of Trafalgar where Horatio Nelson annihilated the Franco-Spanish fleet, or the Baltimore Blockade that forced Americans to not dare to go out to sea, all of which are worth writing about.

But Arthur was sure that what Garibaldi wanted to hear was definitely not these, but the Battle of Navarino in October 1827 where Codrington led his army to completely annihilate the Ottoman Navy.

After this battle, the Ottoman Empire's maritime power was gone. The Greeks rejoiced and regarded Codrington as a hero. But unfortunately, this battle was purely a military accident.

Because the British Foreign Office did not want to hurt the Ottoman Empire too deeply in case they were unable to continue to keep the Russians out of the Mediterranean.

The biggest reason why Britain sent troops to Greece was that it could not withstand domestic public opinion and did not want independent Greece to fall to France or Russia.

If the Ottomans had not killed the messenger sent by Codrington and angered the Royal Navy veteran, Codrington would probably strictly abide by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and strictly abide by the order never to attack.

Because of this, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' "reward" for General Codrington's "pleasant military exploits" was to transfer him from the Commander of the Royal Navy's First Fleet, the Mediterranean Fleet, to the Commander of the Home Guard Fleet, the Channel Fleet.

When Arthur left London, General Codrington was honored to be promoted to another level. At this time, he already occupied the position of Commander of Portsmouth Base. For a 63-year-old veteran, this basically meant that He can stay down-to-earth on land for the rest of his life.

This story was also integrated into "The Flag of St. George Raised High" by Arthur, but in order to prevent the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from discovering that Scotland Yard also hid a number like Arthur Hastings who also disobeyed the orders of his superiors. Guy, so Arthur humbly gave up his authorship rights to Dickens, who co-wrote it, when the book was published.

Garibaldi asked curiously: "Is General Codrington still being retaliated against by your Ministry of Foreign Affairs?"

Arthur pondered for a while, and he suddenly felt that this seemingly loyal and enthusiastic Garibaldi might not be as unscrupulous as he seemed on the surface.

This question seems to be asking about Codrington's current situation, but upon closer consideration, it seems to be asking whether Britain's position really supports liberal and progressive forces as advertised in the newspaper.

If Britain is really so progressive, why is Codrington, who has made great contributions to the independence of Greece, so suppressed?

Arthur smiled and responded: "The political trends in Britain are changing day by day. The Foreign Secretary Earl Dudley, who had a grudge against General Codrington, has long since resigned. Now the person in charge of the Foreign Ministry is Viscount Palmerston. At that time, he was one of the die-hard supporters of former Prime Minister Sir George Canning. Sir Canning had always supported national independence. He not only supported the independence of Greece but also supported the independence movement in South America.

But unfortunately, he only lasted a hundred days in power before passing away. Sir Canning died in August, and General Codrington won the naval battle in October. If Sir Canning had lived for two more months, I think General Codrington's fate would have been very different. . However, fortunately, the Whigs are now in power, and General Codrington can now breathe a sigh of relief.

Although his life has come to an end, the rising stars of the Codrington family are beginning to make their mark. Codrington's eldest son drowned at sea while he was a cadet in the military academy. But his second son has now been promoted to captain in the Army's Coldstream Guards Infantry Regiment.

His youngest son, a midshipman, was wounded at the Battle of Navarino. Fortunately, the wound was not deep, so he recovered quickly. Moreover, because of his heroic fighting and his father's face, this young man was immediately awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, the French Legion of Honor and the Greek Order of the Savior by Russia, France and Greece immediately after the battle.

With these honors, my younger son was promoted much faster than my second son. This young man, who is only one year older than me, had been promoted to captain of a frigate two years ago. Now he is far away from being in charge of a warship with more than 20 guns in the Royal Navy. The colonel was just a step away. Looking at this momentum, he has a very good chance of achieving this goal before the age of 28. "

Garibaldi held his forehead after hearing this and said: "This is really good news. A 28-year-old naval captain is indeed rare. At this rate, he will probably become a general later."

Arthur nodded slightly and said: "It is indeed good news. But whether he can become a general is not yet certain at this time."

"Oh? Why?"

Arthur said: "In the Royal Navy, climbing fast at the front does not mean that you will be fast at the back. According to their promotion route, if you want to be promoted to commodore, you must at least hold the captain positions of frigates, cruisers and battleships. As we all know, What's interesting is that battleships are divided into six levels. Although the Navy Ministry will not let him train on all six levels of battleships, at least three levels must be selected for him to experience one by one.

The whole process is rolled out. If he has withstood the test and is lucky enough to encounter some opportunities to make military exploits and seize them all, then he will have the opportunity to take a look at the rank of brigadier general. In other words, it will take about 30 years no matter how fast it takes from entering the Naval School to being promoted to Commodore of the Royal Navy. "

"Are there no exceptions?"

"Of course there are exceptions."

Arthur told all the naval knowledge he had gained from Elder: "For example, Horatio Nelson, the soul of the Royal Navy, was promoted to commodore in only sixteen years. As for General Thomas Cochrane, although he spoke and acted very It was unreasonable, and he still scolded Marshal Gambier of the Royal Navy as a coward in the military court, but his military exploits were too hard, so it only took him seventeen years to do it, and he was also unreasonable, but he burned the earth with a fire. It took General Sidney Smith only twenty-one years to achieve the rank of brigadier general."

When Garibaldi heard this, he stood up with a smile and patted Arthur on the shoulder: "Although the navy of the Kingdom of Sardinia is different from the Royal Navy, it is estimated that promotion will not be easy. I originally wanted to do this It seems that it is probably impossible to get a general in a year or two. "

After finishing speaking, he leaned into Arthur's ear and whispered: "Man, if you are free another day, you can ask Mr. Dumas to take you to my residence as a guest. That's all for today. It's a pleasure to chat with you, But I have to leave now. Look at the stairs, those flies that have been following us for a week are here again."

Arthur glanced at it, and sure enough, as Garibaldi said, two gentlemen wearing top hats and seal beards came there. They first glanced at the second floor of the hotel, and then found a table near the stairs to sit. Place your order.

"Of course, having flies in a restaurant makes people unappetizing. But, Giuseppe, your residence will also attract flies. If you want to have a quiet environment to talk, you can come to this place to find me. I ask you Guaranteed, I love cleanliness, so flies don’t dare to come near the area where I live.”

Arthur took a business card from his coat pocket and stuffed it into Garibaldi's pocket.

Garibaldi glanced at the business card, glanced at Mazzini who was getting up next to him, and then asked: "Man, I remember you just said that your current foreign minister is more reliable?"

Arthur rubbed the scar at the corner of his eye: "He may not be reliable when facing the Russians, but the only thing I can be sure of is that he hates Austrian Prime Minister Metternich very much. Giuseppe, I swear on my honor , he hates Metternich even more than Italians like you."

"I have to say, you sound like a liar when you talk like this." Garibaldi put his first hand on the dining table: "But you can write "The Flag of St. George Raise High", I don't think you are like that. A sinister villain, so I think there must be a reason for a real tough guy to say that. Man, would you mind telling me why you are so sure?"

"Why?"

Arthur pressed the cigar in the ashtray and crushed it bit by bit: "Giuseppe, if you and Metternich had the same lover, you would hate him too. As for Metternich and Viscount Palmerston Who is your mutual lover? We can talk about it next time, after all, you are in a hurry today."